Am I the only one baffled by the Braves’ apparent belief that they’re better off with Willy Aybar as a utility player than at second base? I understand that they need to plan for Chipper’s inevitable stay on the disabled list, but letting fifty games at third base determine 150 games at second is counterproductive. I guess that the problem is that none of the other second base candidates can really play third — I mean, I’ve seen Peterson Thomas Gord Orr play third base and it took a couple of years off my life. And you don’t want to be moving your second baseman to third and breaking in a new second baseman. I guess.

But by not using Aybar, who is far and away the best candidate and the one man who seems like a complete second baseman, they’re all but guaranteeing that they’re going to be using a multitude of second basemen anyway. Moreover, they’re looking at a roster that would have three utility infielders (Aybar, Orr, and either Johnson or Prado) none of whom is a shortstop. Renteria isn’t exactly Cal Ripken Jr., folks, and you need someone who can back him up, not that L’il Tony Pena is a guy we want to play. Maybe Prado could back up there. Which, I guess, leads us back to KJ as the regular…

Anyway, the sheer volume of second basemen the Braves have right now is the reason I doubt they’ll make a trade, at least not for someone as ordinary as Jose Castillo, who really doesn’t have any positives. It’s probably better to have a regular second baseman instead of two or three guys sharing the position, but it’s not worth the price to bring in a nobody to man the position.

The winner of yesterday’s poll (which I guess is staying up until I think of a new one) is Ryan Klesko. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.